Facebook - friend or foe?

BigD · #**341** (**permalink**) 31-05-2010, 11:45

I think that (some) social networking sites do encourage a me-attitude, as users endeavour to look more interesting and appear to have a more exciting life that another person a couple of clicks away. The life of most people is incredibly dull. Their real-world social-circle usually acknowledges, nay appreciates that.

Do you really want to spend all your time in online competition with people you may never have met ?

BigD

Cyrus · #**342** (**permalink**) 31-05-2010, 12:18

Quote:

Originally Posted by BigD

I think that (some) social networking sites do encourage a me-attitude, as users endeavour to look more interesting and appear to have a more exciting life that another person a couple of clicks away. The life of most people is incredibly dull. Their real-world social-circle usually acknowledges, nay appreciates that.

Do you really want to spend all your time in online competition with people you may never have met ?

BigD

Not that I entirely agree, if people are using social media in this way, I would say it's more a symptom than a cause.

BigD · #**343** (**permalink**) 31-05-2010, 13:22

Here is my big shiny car
Here are photos of my exciting holiday(s)
Here are all my linked friends
Need to update...must update...otherwise people might consider me boring and desert me....must update...dead rat...reviving bird....breathing in...depressed...still depressed...breathing out....no one feeding my misery...still depressed....

Even on fora: look at some organised events and get-togethers, not so much the aftermath or even the event itself, more the list of those that feel the need to say they are not attending:
"I would love to, but in Puerto Rica"
"away skiing again"
"on holiday in Namibia"
"still sunning-it in Australia"

I'm have seen little on sites that thrive on update-fever that is of interest or long-term value.

BigD

Cyrus · #**344** (**permalink**) 31-05-2010, 13:58

I think we've been over this before. Do you not tell anyone if you got a new car? or about your latest holiday?

Like anything, everyone talks about themselves to a certain extent, but you stop hanging around with people who do it all the time. If I got someone like that on my FB, I'd just stick them on ignore.

BigD · #**345** (**permalink**) 31-05-2010, 14:14

Yeah I'm pretty sure we have discussed it before but I've been on a new holiday since then, so I'd better bring it up again

I have just a new car in actual fact, and until now have told....two people. Even they don't care

BigD

La Lucy · #**346** (**permalink**) 31-05-2010, 15:10

Golden rule: if any of your "friends" starts setting their status to what they are cooking for dinner, followed by "yummiy!, then they have ran out of subject and told you everything they had to do. Proceed for immediate deletion.

It is not just this updatingmania - it is also some people actually feel the need of posting and venting every single thought they have. EVERY-SINGLE-THOUGHT, Prada dammit!

BigD · #**347** (**permalink**) 08-07-2010, 11:46

Facebook faces German privacy probe ? The Register

Quote:

The action follows complaints from members of the public who were not themselves members of the social network, but whose details were added to the site by friends. It is alleged that this information was saved by Facebook and used for marketing purposes.

BigD

Grum · #**348** (**permalink**) 09-07-2010, 12:32

Quote:

Originally Posted by BigD

Facebook faces German privacy probe ? The Register

From the Register article comments:

Quote:

FB web bugs

FB uses web bugs planted all around the Web to track their members' (and presumably non-members') browsing habits. Those bugs come in a variety of forms, including the "I like" button, "Connect" form, etc. and for this reason I try to block everything from Facebook on sight. AdBlock Plus and Ghostery add-ons have proven to be very useful for this purpose.

The Register article is based on this BBC article and from a link there I found Facebook's bid to rule the web as it goes social.

I've noticed for a while that when someone links to my web site from Facebook, I don't get to see where in Facebook it's coming from. This is obviously a deliberate policy, and I'm wondering what the ramifications are.

peachy · #**349** (**permalink**) 12-07-2010, 19:48

I just had my account disabled for nothing other than being Batman.

Let's see if they believe my name is Batang Mann.

fraser · #**350** (**permalink**) 14-07-2010, 16:57

For me the best bit about facebook is that no-one goes on there to complain (for 35 pages worth of posts) about how lame other forms of social media are.

I've given status updates such as "I'm in Spitalfields Market" which I'm sure you'll all agree is painfully dull and boring. Of course, it's not dull or boring if you also happen to be in that area which is exactly what happened to me. Spitalfields market was followed by the consumption of too many pints of stella with an old friend who I wouldnt have met up with otherwise. Dull and boring turns out to be a relative term.

If you're worried about "privacy", then don't post information about yourself anywhere online. If it's online, it's essentially free-for-all. Of course, only dull and boring people are on facebook, so they've nothing to worry about. It's only the people are too dreadfully interesting and important that need to worry about concealing their top-secret information.

I recall a conversation at CERN many, many years ago between a group of people debating whether they would get an email account or not.

It's 2010 people. Embrace or get left behind.